Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind

So this is the first book that I have read since starting this blog - Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross, recommended by my mom, who loves books about southern women.  She was a little worried about giving it to me because it has a not too flattering portrayal of the Presbyterian church and Miss Julia's money-hungry pastor and my father-in-law happens to be a Presbyterian minister, but I don't think he would be offended.  More an indictment of small town gossip and politics than anything specifically Presbyterian.  Lots of funny, albeit kind of stereotypical characters and a charming southern story about a widow who finally becomes her own person and finds a new family after the death of her husband.  Cutesy stories like this are not my favorite, but it was very entertaining and did make me think about some deeper questions, especially why are we so willing to let ourselves be changed by relationships?  Miss Julia was a "shrinking violet" during much of her life - controlled by her father, then by her husband and her pastor, and always subject to the expectations of the community -  and it took her husband's death to force her to be independent and be able to realize that she didn't have to keep doing what men told her to.  And even while she's supposed to be becoming this steel magnolia, she allows herself to be persuaded by the pastor that she's suffering from nymphomania (ha!) and is terrified that the town will find out.  So was she lucky that her husband died?  Hopefully there aren't many women out there who would feel the same sense of relief that Miss Julia seems to have if their husbands died.  Should we judge Miss Julia because she wasn't able to speak her mind sooner or because she was so dependent on her husband that she couldn't?  My husband (who is a wonderful saint of a man) and I try to have an equal partnership and make decisions together, but there is definitely a part of me that breathes that sigh of relief when I can defer to him -- it's not my responsibility to get the oil changed or pay the bills or make that call to the repairman or plan the trip because I have a husband who can do it.  However, I also know that I could do (and have done) those things if I had to.  Wouldn't my life be easier if I were Miss Julia and only had to worry about what to bring to the next potluck at the church or what kind of new curtains to buy?  If Miss Julias are a dying breed, will girls in the next generation be even less concerned with gender roles than I am?  Wouldn't it be interesting to read a book where you didn't know the gender of the characters?

Up next - Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (I see you, LRC!)